The primary objectives of this proposal are: 1) to evaluate the potential of reading as a therapeutic tool for use with non-communicating autistic children; 2) to develop methods and materials for measuring reading comprehension in autistic children; 3) to introduce symbolic abilities in these children via the written modality; 4) to determine whether the development of these abilities will catalyze communicative speech. These objectives will be accomplished by teaching autistic children who do not read with comprehension to associate written words and their referents, using a specially designed teaching machine.